Change the opacity or transparency of a picture or a fill color in PowerPoint 2016 for Mac

You can adjust the overall opacity or transparency of a picture or fill color. You can also make part of a picture transparent to better show text that is layered on top of it, to layer pictures on top of each other, or to remove or hide part of a picture for emphasis.

Change the transparency of a picture or fill color

Select the picture or object for which you want to change the transparency.

Click the Picture Format or Shape Format tab, and then click Format Pane.

In the Format Picture or Format Shape pane, click the Fill & Line tab.

Under Fill, drag the Transparency slider until you see the amount of transparency you want.

Make part of a picture transparent

You can make one color in a picture transparent to hide part of the picture or create a layered effect. Transparent areas in pictures are the same color as the paper on which they are printed. In an electronic display, such as a web page, transparent areas are the same color as the background.

Select the picture for which you want to change the transparency of a color.

On the Picture Format tab, click Color, and then click Set Transparent Color.

Click the color in the picture or image that you want to make transparent.

Note: You cannot make more than one color in a picture transparent. Areas that appear to be a single color (for example, blue sky) might actually be made up of a range of subtle color variations. Therefore, the color that you select might appear in only a small area, and it might be difficult to see the transparent effect in certain pictures.